FIREHOUSE

FULL CIRCLE

Released 2011

Tracklisting: Overnight Sensation, Shake and Tumble, Hold The Dream, All She Wrote, Love Of A Lifetime, Don’t Treat Me Bad, Reach For The Sky, When I Look Into Your Eyes, You Are My Religion, I Live My Life For You, Christmas With You

Sometimes you wonder what drives a band to re-record their greatest hits when the originals sounded pretty damn fine, but for Firehouse's 20 year Anniversary the guys have decided to re-work some of their finest songs. Unlike the majority who tread that path the great news here is that they have pulled off the rare feat of bettering the originals.

OK so Greatest Hits records are a dime a dozen and re-recorded Greatest Hits records often disappoint. Here it’s different as Firehouse has taken their very best and re-recorded them in a way that actually adds to the originals. In fact there is a real ‘live’ sound to these new recordings that really surprised me and it seems to have breathed a real vitality into the songs that you, like me, have probably heard a thousand times before.   

Firehouse is one of those bands that should have been bigger; don’t forget this is the band that beat Nirvana and Alice in Chains at the American Music Awards all those years ago.  This is also a band that continues to be a real treat live, and you should get out there and catch them if you get a chance this year.

So to celebrate the twenty years since that first album hit we have ‘Full Circle’ and it really is hard to fault. Sure some of us would have loved to have seen maybe a couple of lesser known tracks, or maybe even a couple of new ones, but that would be splitting hairs. As far as the recordings go the ‘live’ feel works well and CJ’s voice has certainly stood the test of time, mellowing nicely.   

Some may decry this as a throwaway exercise, but all I would say to that is take a real listen. Almost all of the new recordings better the originals, there’s just an additional depth that the band seems to have been able to impress upon the music. Bill Leverty too has added to his sound and some of the rephrased guitar parts are subtle yet refreshingly contemporary. It works and those that are familiar with Firehouse will know that the songs are great just by taking a look at the tracklisting.

Well worth picking a copy.

By Mark Diggins